Archive for the ‘The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church’ Category

I don’t take it as a coincidence that this Ashkenazic [Khazar] Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi “Cohen” has been specifically selected by Benedict to teach the bishops how to more effectively nullify scripture at the upcoming synod on the day before Yom Kippur Eve. This Rabbi “Cohen” likely believes himself to be a genetic descendant of Aaron, and the bishops probably subscribe to this delusion as well. Yom Kippur Eve is the time of the yearly Orthodox Judaic attempt to deceive God and men through nullification of vows in the Kol Nidre rite (Judaism Discovered pp. 965-980). Perhaps that will be the bishops’ lesson for the day, and perhaps they will also learn the proper way to transfer their sins to a chicken, like the “elder brothers in the faith” do on Yom Kippur Eve HERE and HERE. Maybe the rabbi will let the bishops in on some of the more arcane Yom Kippur phallic obsession traditions and teach them how to “rectify the brit” HERE There are countless asinine teachings the rabbi could share with the bishops as a means of rendering them utterly alien from the law and the prophets as rabbis effectively do to their followers, as Pope Innocent IV said of them HERE. Most likely, he would be speaking on the so-called “Noahide laws.”

Israeli rabbi calls Vatican invitation to address synod sign of hope

By Judith SudilovskyCatholic News Service

JERUSALEM (CNS) — The Vatican invitation to participate in the upcoming world Synod of Bishops on the Bible is a “signal of hope,” said Israeli Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, who will lead a one-day discussion on the Jewish interpretation of the Scriptures.

Rabbi Cohen, co-chairman of the Israeli-Vatican dialogue commission and chief rabbi of Haifa, is the first non-Christian ever invited to address the world Synod of Bishops. He will speak the second day of the Oct. 5-26 synod at the Vatican.

“(The invitation) brings with it a message of love, coexistence and peace for generations,” Rabbi Cohen told Catholic News Service in an interview in his Jerusalem office in late September. “We see in (the) invitation a kind of declaration that (the church) intends to continue with the policy and doctrine established by Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, and we appreciate very deeply this declaration.”

Despite the history of violence and bloodshed from the Christian world, said Rabbi Cohen, the invitation can also be seen as a declaration of “respect and coexistence with Judaism as the older brother of Christianity.”

He said he actually felt a bit of trepidation in accepting the invitation because some rabbinical leaders feel that interreligious dialogue is simply another way of trying to convince Jews to become Christians, and some Jewish leaders opposed his addressing the synod.

“There is an extreme group that is afraid and who say that, since (Christians) didn’t succeed by force to convert us, they are trying now to do it by talking; they call it the kiss of death,” said Rabbi Cohen. “If they are right, I am making a mistake, but I believe that is not the situation.”

The rabbi said he sees the invitation as a partial fulfillment of an ancient daily prayer that seeks a day when all people will join together to worship God.

Rabbi Cohen noted Christianity, Islam and Judaism are Abrahamic faiths that believe in one God.

“You can’t deny the fact that, despite the difference in opinion, the roots are the same. They start from Abraham, and we can call these three religions the Abrahamic faiths. We all continue the sanctity and loyalty to the Bible,” he said.

Rabbi Cohen — the 18th generation of a family of rabbis and biblical scholars — said he will speak to the synod about the centrality of the Jewish Scripture in Jewish tradition and daily life and the importance of it in the education of every Jewish child, as well as its importance to Israel. He gave the example of a yearly Bible quiz, which is broadcast nationally and whose winners are congratulated by the Israeli president.

“I believe that is what should be copied by all nations of the world. They should learn the Bible and know it and be inspired by it,” he said.

He said he was able to recite almost the entire Torah — the first five books of the Bible — by the time he was 8 years old.

Rabbis use biblical quotations and their rabbinical interpretations to relate to contemporary issues when they must make a religious ruling, he said.

“The Tanach, the Torah, is indeed a central part of our (prayer) service and the very symbolic fact that in every synagogue we face the (Holy) Ark, which contains the written scrolls of the books of Moses and the prophets,” shows its importance, said Rabbi Cohen. “We pray (toward) the book, not to God; there is no image of God or icons. We put in our Holy Ark the words of God. That is how central the Scriptures are in our lives.”

In the years following the 2001 Vatican document “The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible,” Rabbi Cohen has noticed a growing interest in learning about the Jewish Scriptures, what Christians know as the Old Testament. He said he has hosted several groups of Catholic religious who asked him questions about the Scriptures.

“I asked them if they could forget the fact that not only Jesus but all the apostles were Jewish, so instead of hating those Jews that are accused of having killed Christ, think about the fact that the victims were also Jews,” said Rabbi Cohen. “I believe that is part of the Jewish persecution that happened through generations by other people. That is part of our destiny, but Christians should realize that and respect those who continue to live as the Jews (lived) in the time of the founding of Christianity.”

Jewish survival throughout centuries of hatred and persecution “is a sign that despite all the difficulty God wants us to exist and to continue the way we were,” said Rabbi Cohen.

He said interreligious dialogue acts as a block to the spreading of the anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic sentiment of the past, without which the Holocaust could not have taken place.

While there may not be room for Scripture scholarship between Jews and Christians because of the different conclusions both reach from the readings, such discussions might be possible on a scientific level at academic institutions, he said.

“I believe we should leave each to his own tradition and not try to blur the differences,” said Rabbi Cohen. “One part of every dialogue is not only to speak to each other but also to listen to each other and respect his right to be different. We can’t expect Christians to do that for us if we don’t do that for them.”

I don’t take it as a coincidence that this Ashkenazic [Khazar] Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi “Cohen” has been specifically selected by Benedict to teach the bishops how to more effectively nullify scripture at the upcoming synod on the day before Yom Kippur Eve. This Rabbi “Cohen” likely believes himself to be a genetic descendant of Aaron, and the bishops probably subscribe to this delusion as well. Yom Kippur Eve is the time of the yearly Orthodox Judaic attempt to deceive God and men through nullification of vows in the Kol Nidre rite (Judaism Discovered pp. 965-980). Perhaps that will be the bishops’ lesson for the day, and perhaps they will also learn the proper way to transfer their sins to a chicken, like the “elder brothers in the faith” do on Yom Kippur Eve HERE and HERE. Maybe the rabbi will let the bishops in on some of the more arcane Yom Kippur phallic obsession traditions and teach them how to “rectify the brit” HERE There are countless asinine teachings the rabbi could share with the bishops as a means of rendering them utterly alien from the law and the prophets as rabbis effectively do to their followers, as Pope Innocent IV said of them HERE. Most likely, he would be speaking on the so-called “Noahide laws.”

Israeli rabbi calls Vatican invitation to address synod sign of hope

By Judith SudilovskyCatholic News Service

JERUSALEM (CNS) — The Vatican invitation to participate in the upcoming world Synod of Bishops on the Bible is a “signal of hope,” said Israeli Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, who will lead a one-day discussion on the Jewish interpretation of the Scriptures.

Rabbi Cohen, co-chairman of the Israeli-Vatican dialogue commission and chief rabbi of Haifa, is the first non-Christian ever invited to address the world Synod of Bishops. He will speak the second day of the Oct. 5-26 synod at the Vatican.

“(The invitation) brings with it a message of love, coexistence and peace for generations,” Rabbi Cohen told Catholic News Service in an interview in his Jerusalem office in late September. “We see in (the) invitation a kind of declaration that (the church) intends to continue with the policy and doctrine established by Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, and we appreciate very deeply this declaration.”

Despite the history of violence and bloodshed from the Christian world, said Rabbi Cohen, the invitation can also be seen as a declaration of “respect and coexistence with Judaism as the older brother of Christianity.”

He said he actually felt a bit of trepidation in accepting the invitation because some rabbinical leaders feel that interreligious dialogue is simply another way of trying to convince Jews to become Christians, and some Jewish leaders opposed his addressing the synod.

“There is an extreme group that is afraid and who say that, since (Christians) didn’t succeed by force to convert us, they are trying now to do it by talking; they call it the kiss of death,” said Rabbi Cohen. “If they are right, I am making a mistake, but I believe that is not the situation.”

The rabbi said he sees the invitation as a partial fulfillment of an ancient daily prayer that seeks a day when all people will join together to worship God.

Rabbi Cohen noted Christianity, Islam and Judaism are Abrahamic faiths that believe in one God.

“You can’t deny the fact that, despite the difference in opinion, the roots are the same. They start from Abraham, and we can call these three religions the Abrahamic faiths. We all continue the sanctity and loyalty to the Bible,” he said.

Rabbi Cohen — the 18th generation of a family of rabbis and biblical scholars — said he will speak to the synod about the centrality of the Jewish Scripture in Jewish tradition and daily life and the importance of it in the education of every Jewish child, as well as its importance to Israel. He gave the example of a yearly Bible quiz, which is broadcast nationally and whose winners are congratulated by the Israeli president.

“I believe that is what should be copied by all nations of the world. They should learn the Bible and know it and be inspired by it,” he said.

He said he was able to recite almost the entire Torah — the first five books of the Bible — by the time he was 8 years old.

Rabbis use biblical quotations and their rabbinical interpretations to relate to contemporary issues when they must make a religious ruling, he said.

“The Tanach, the Torah, is indeed a central part of our (prayer) service and the very symbolic fact that in every synagogue we face the (Holy) Ark, which contains the written scrolls of the books of Moses and the prophets,” shows its importance, said Rabbi Cohen. “We pray (toward) the book, not to God; there is no image of God or icons. We put in our Holy Ark the words of God. That is how central the Scriptures are in our lives.”

In the years following the 2001 Vatican document “The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible,” Rabbi Cohen has noticed a growing interest in learning about the Jewish Scriptures, what Christians know as the Old Testament. He said he has hosted several groups of Catholic religious who asked him questions about the Scriptures.

“I asked them if they could forget the fact that not only Jesus but all the apostles were Jewish, so instead of hating those Jews that are accused of having killed Christ, think about the fact that the victims were also Jews,” said Rabbi Cohen. “I believe that is part of the Jewish persecution that happened through generations by other people. That is part of our destiny, but Christians should realize that and respect those who continue to live as the Jews (lived) in the time of the founding of Christianity.”

Jewish survival throughout centuries of hatred and persecution “is a sign that despite all the difficulty God wants us to exist and to continue the way we were,” said Rabbi Cohen.

He said interreligious dialogue acts as a block to the spreading of the anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic sentiment of the past, without which the Holocaust could not have taken place.

While there may not be room for Scripture scholarship between Jews and Christians because of the different conclusions both reach from the readings, such discussions might be possible on a scientific level at academic institutions, he said.

“I believe we should leave each to his own tradition and not try to blur the differences,” said Rabbi Cohen. “One part of every dialogue is not only to speak to each other but also to listen to each other and respect his right to be different. We can’t expect Christians to do that for us if we don’t do that for them.”

Background on this HERE and HERE. Apparently Cardinal Martini, who has called for this synod, intends that Christians learn from post-Temple rabbinic teaching. And note that Martini claims that the focus of this synod is to bring all things Catholic more into keeping with scripture–this even as it is reported that the scripture-based language of the Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews from the 1962 Latin missal will be altered to suit modern, non-biblical sensibilities.

Italian cardinal hopes synod helps draw Catholics closer to Scripture

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service–Jan-31-2008

ROME (CNS) — Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan and biblical scholar who repeatedly asked for a world Synod of Bishops on the Bible, said he hopes October’s synod on the topic will focus on practical pastoral initiatives to bring Catholics closer to the Scriptures.

The Oct. 5-26 synod should be “a pastoral discernment” aimed at helping the church offer Catholics “authentic itineraries of worship, prayer and service” based on the Bible, he said in an article published in La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal reviewed by the Vatican prior to publication.

Cardinal Martini said the synod also should be an “examination of conscience” of how well the church has put into practice the teachings of the Second Vatican Council’s document on divine revelation, “Dei Verbum.”

A chapter of the synod outline or “lineamenta,” published last April, focused on how the church nourishes itself with the word of God “in liturgy and in prayer, in evangelization and catechesis, in exegesis and in theology, and in the life of the believer,” he said.

“I think that all of these areas are important and deserve the attention of the synod fathers,” the cardinal said, particularly because too many Catholics still do not read the Bible on their own or in groups and only hear the Scriptures at Mass.

The cardinal said he hoped the synod would avoid “prolonged and abstract” discussions on matters already dealt with by the Second Vatican Council, such as the relationship between Scripture and tradition, or an examination of particular methods of biblical interpretation and scholarship.

Also, he said, focusing on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” the synod’s theme, the gathering should avoid placing an emphasis on “individual revealed truths,” looking instead at the fact that God has revealed himself through the Scriptures.

Cardinal Martini said he hoped the synod would come up with concrete suggestions for bringing the Bible closer to the lives of Catholics.

He said his first suggestion would be that even at a daily Mass, where homilies usually are not given, the celebrant should offer a brief reflection — “no longer than three minutes” — on the day’s Scripture readings.

A more difficult, but essential task, he said, is finding ways to help Catholics learn to pray with the Scriptures during their private prayers.

Cardinal Martini, who taught in Jerusalem and lives there much of the year, said the synod also must remind Catholics how much the Jewish tradition and modern Jewish scholarship have to teach them about the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.

“It is not enough to avoid any anti-Semitic feelings,” he said. “One must reach the point of loving the Jewish people and all the expressions of their life and culture: their literature, art, folklore and religiousness. Only then can we establish those ties that will lead not only to overcoming mistrust and prejudices, but to collaborating for the good of humanity.”

Background on this HERE and HERE. Apparently Cardinal Martini, who has called for this synod, intends that Christians learn from post-Temple rabbinic teaching. And note that Martini claims that the focus of this synod is to bring all things Catholic more into keeping with scripture–this even as it is reported that the scripture-based language of the Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews from the 1962 Latin missal will be altered to suit modern, non-biblical sensibilities.

Italian cardinal hopes synod helps draw Catholics closer to Scripture

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service–Jan-31-2008

ROME (CNS) — Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan and biblical scholar who repeatedly asked for a world Synod of Bishops on the Bible, said he hopes October’s synod on the topic will focus on practical pastoral initiatives to bring Catholics closer to the Scriptures.

The Oct. 5-26 synod should be “a pastoral discernment” aimed at helping the church offer Catholics “authentic itineraries of worship, prayer and service” based on the Bible, he said in an article published in La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal reviewed by the Vatican prior to publication.

Cardinal Martini said the synod also should be an “examination of conscience” of how well the church has put into practice the teachings of the Second Vatican Council’s document on divine revelation, “Dei Verbum.”

A chapter of the synod outline or “lineamenta,” published last April, focused on how the church nourishes itself with the word of God “in liturgy and in prayer, in evangelization and catechesis, in exegesis and in theology, and in the life of the believer,” he said.

“I think that all of these areas are important and deserve the attention of the synod fathers,” the cardinal said, particularly because too many Catholics still do not read the Bible on their own or in groups and only hear the Scriptures at Mass.

The cardinal said he hoped the synod would avoid “prolonged and abstract” discussions on matters already dealt with by the Second Vatican Council, such as the relationship between Scripture and tradition, or an examination of particular methods of biblical interpretation and scholarship.

Also, he said, focusing on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” the synod’s theme, the gathering should avoid placing an emphasis on “individual revealed truths,” looking instead at the fact that God has revealed himself through the Scriptures.

Cardinal Martini said he hoped the synod would come up with concrete suggestions for bringing the Bible closer to the lives of Catholics.

He said his first suggestion would be that even at a daily Mass, where homilies usually are not given, the celebrant should offer a brief reflection — “no longer than three minutes” — on the day’s Scripture readings.

A more difficult, but essential task, he said, is finding ways to help Catholics learn to pray with the Scriptures during their private prayers.

Cardinal Martini, who taught in Jerusalem and lives there much of the year, said the synod also must remind Catholics how much the Jewish tradition and modern Jewish scholarship have to teach them about the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.

“It is not enough to avoid any anti-Semitic feelings,” he said. “One must reach the point of loving the Jewish people and all the expressions of their life and culture: their literature, art, folklore and religiousness. Only then can we establish those ties that will lead not only to overcoming mistrust and prejudices, but to collaborating for the good of humanity.”